Have you ever noticed how you can suddenly hear your refrigerator humming in the background when you focus on it? Or how the sound of your name instantly catches your attention even in a noisy crowd? The human brain is remarkably adept at adjusting what we hear based on contexts, like our current environment or priorities, but it's still unknown how exactly the brain helps us detect, filter and react to sounds. Now, biologists at the University of Maryland are a step closer to solving that mystery. Using an animal model, the researchers found that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a brain region associated with decision-making but not typically linked to hearing, plays a central role in helping the auditory cortex (a primary hearing center of the brain) adapt to changing contexts or situations.
The team's findings were published in the journal Current Biology on July 11, 2024. Our hearing doesn't just depend on the sounds around us. It also relies heavily on what we're doing and what's important to us at that moment.
Understanding the neural mechanisms responsible for these adjustments can also lead to a better understanding of and potential treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, dyslexia or schizophrenia-;conditions where sensory regulation goes awry." Melissa Caras, the paper's senior author, UMD Biology Assistant Professor To closely examine the brain circuitry involved in the hearing process, the researchers turned to gerbils, small mammals whose basic hea.